


Bitter Shot, Better Taste

by Copper_Nails (Her_Madjesty)



Series: Requests [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 09:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13028553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Her_Madjesty/pseuds/Copper_Nails
Summary: “Kenobi. Hey, Kenobi.”Rey grits her teeth and does her best not to roll her eyes. Working in the University of Ahch-Cho’s only on-campus coffee shop means that she sees everybody – everybody – at some point of the day, even the people she doesn’t necessarily feel like running in to.





	Bitter Shot, Better Taste

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ashmandalc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashmandalc/gifts).



> Another old Tumblr prompt as requested by ladymaliwan. This fic subscribed to the old theories that a) Rey was a Kenobi, and b) in any universe, Rey and Kylo would find ways to casually antagonize one another. I hope you like it!

“Kenobi. Hey, Kenobi.”

Rey grits her teeth and does her best not to roll her eyes. Working in the University of Ahch-Cho’s only on-campus coffee shop means that she sees everybody –  _everybody –_  at some point of the day, even the people she doesn’t necessarily feel like running in to.

“Rey!”

“What do you want, Kylo?” she hisses. He’s two people back in the line, but his mere presence is enough to make the innocent undergraduates cower. Rey considers hiding, but there’s no point; he towers over everyone. No hiding place is safe from him.

Kylo smirks when she looks at him. It takes every ounce of professionalism in her body not to flick him off.

“I hear we’re dating,” Kylo says.

Rey does her best not to swallow her tongue. “Excuse me?”

The last undergraduate between them scurries away. Kylo plants his hands on the counter in front of Rey’s register. Despite his ever-present scowl, Rey can feel smug energy radiating off of him.

“Your friend, Jessika, is something of a chatterbox,” and he says it like he’s annoyed, like he’s not holding up a steadily growing line.

Rey crosses her arms and does her best imitation of Kylo’s scowl. “How do you two even know each other?”

“Advanced Number Theory.” Kylo shrugs her annoyance away. “She accosted me, you know? Came up to me right as class started and told me that if I hurt you, she’d drop kick me into next year.”

“And she would,” Rey agrees.

Kylo raises an eyebrow. “Not the point. Why does she think we’re dating?”

Rey lets out a sigh, then glances down the coffee line. “Can you order something, please? I’m working.”

She can almost hear Kylo’s amusement sputter. He pushes off of the counter, then glares over her head at the shop’s chalkboard menu. “Make me whatever you want,” he grunts before pressing a twenty down on the counter top, “but we  _are_  talking about this.”

Rey furrows her brow and stares first at the bill, then at Kylo. His ears, she notices, are tinged pink.

“Keep the change.” he grumbles. He doesn’t look at her as he stalks away to wait with the rest of the crowd.

Rey closes her eyes and shakes her head, trying her best to clear it. Someone bumps into her back. She flinches.

“Sorry, Rey.” Rose, another barista, looks like she’s apologizing for more than just the contact. She glances over Rey’s shoulder (a difficult task, when the girl is shorter than her) towards the shadow fuming at the end of their counter top. “Do you want a minute to talk to him?”

“Not really,” Rey admits. She puts Kylo’s twenty into the register, then moves on to address the waiting line. “Let me make his drink, though, yeah?”

“Do you want to talk about what’s going on?”

Rey falls quiet for several minutes, not speaking save for the false-cheerful chirp of her requests for students’ orders. She places the line on hold, after that, and comes to duck her head next to Rose’s behind the espresso machine.

“I got lunch with Jessika the other day,” she says, “and she’s just started dating that grad student in engineering, you know? She started asking me for advice, and I did my best, but I – I’ve never been in a relationship before.”

Rose’s eye’s widen in surprise, but she lets Rey continue.

“I guess my advice came off a bit grumpy.” Rey forces a chuckle, then shifts to heat the milk for a drink. “She asked me if my ‘partner’ and I were having a fight, and – I may have told her -”

“No way.”

Rey backs away hurriedly, trying to avoid the pity in Rose’s eyes. “It seemed plausible, at the time,” she says. “He and I are always fighting; I thought it would make sense.”

“Do you even like him?” Rose demands.

Rey glances back to the end of the counter. Kylo’s sitting on one of their barstools, now, and tapping his fingers against the granite. His scowl has deepened, but there’s something distinctly apprehensive lingering in his eyes.

“I don’t hate him,” Rey allows.

Rose rolls her eyes, then presses a drink into a patron’s hand with a smile. “That’s not a good enough foundation for dating, Rey.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do now?” Rey demands.

Rose doesn’t respond for several minutes, her eyes glued to the shop’s line of plastic cups and boxes of pumpkin spice mix. Rey reminds herself to breathe and takes three more orders before gently nudging the other barista with her foot.

“I think you should talk to him,” Rose says, at last. “Probably soon.” She glances over towards Kylo, and Rey follows her gaze. He’s gone stock still, surrounded by a crowd of students, and the apprehension in his eyes has grown all the more apparent.

“Yeah,” Rey hears herself say, tired yet sympathetic. “Yeah, okay.”

She finishes off the last of line, then reaches for the largest cup she can find. The americano she makes may be a touch too hot, but she makes it sweet, half of a proper apology.

She moves down the counter and sets it in front of Kylo without a word. He looks up at her, annoyed, and confused. He doesn’t take the drink.

Rey stares back and, after a moment, has to remind herself of what it is that she’s supposed to be doing. “I’m sorry,” she says, at last. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything; I just – didn’t want Jessika to know I hadn’t…really…dated anyone before.”

“What?”

Rey feels a blush start to stain her cheeks. “It’s embarrassing, you know?” she tells him. “I’m going to graduate in what, four months, and I haven’t managed to make a relationship stick. That’s not exactly something I’m going to go around bragging about.”

“Right.” His voice is steady, but when Rey risks a glance at Kylo’s face, she can tell that he’s gone paler than usual. “But why would you choose to fake-date  _me_?”

“Believe me, I’ve asked myself that a lot,” Rey drawls. It’s a relief to see Kylo’s scowl return to his face. Her exasperation fades, after a moment, though, and she pushes his americano towards him again.

“Look,” she says, “can we just – forget it ever happened? I’ll tell Jessika that I was lying, and we can go back to arguing whenever you come by.”

Kylo blinks at her, long and slow, almost cat-like. Finally, his hand curls around his drink. “No,” he says. The word almost seems to surprise him.

“Excuse me?”

“Nope.” The hand wrapped around the cup tightens. “You made me embarrass myself in front of a class of undergraduates; I think you owe me for dating me without telling me.”

Rey feels her blush worsen. “Excuse me?!”

At the repetition, Kylo smiles. “Go out to dinner with me, Kenobi,” he says, leaning back on his bar stool.

“Excuse me!?”

This time, Rey sees even Rose lift her head, though she misses the way the other girl hides her smile. Rey is – seething, she’s embarrassed, she’s – more excited about this offer than she should be.

“Fine,” she says, hands smacking down on the counter, “but I’m not going to pay for anything.”

“Like you even could,” Kylo sniffs. He rises from his stool, and Rey is abruptly reminded of just how much taller than her he is. “See you at eight?”

“Fine,” she snaps again. She crosses her arms as he struts away, telling herself that watching the line of his back isn’t abnormal, it’s just – irritation.

When Rose bumps into her arm again, Rey doesn’t wince. “That sounded like it went well.”

“It went something,” Rey mutters. She brushes a strand of hair away from her face and watches as the last of Kylo’s shadow disappears into the crowd.

Her heart is racing. She tells herself that it’s aggitation.

(It’s not.)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought!


End file.
